A National Veterans Strategy: The Economic, Social and Security Imperative

This publication details the foundational logic supporting a call to action, related to a broad-based effort to articulate and institutionalize a National Veterans Strategy. We argue that coordinated, "whole-of-government" action toward this end is essential to meet the nation's most important economic, social, and security obligations. Furthermore, we contend that the second Obama administration, working in close collaboration with executive agencies, Congress, and the private sector, is well-positioned to act on what we perceive to be a historic opportunity -- capitalizing on both the foundations of veteran-focused policy and progress enacted over the past decade and the overwhelming public support for returning veterans and military families -- to craft and institutionalize a National Veterans Strategy.Our purpose is to provide a researched and logically-developed case for action that is grounded in this nation's social and cultural traditions and attuned to the practical realities of our contemporary economic and political climate

The thinning of subcontinental lithosphere: The roles of plume impact and metasomatic weakening

Geologically rapid (tens of Myr) partial removal of thick continental lithosphere is evident beneath Precambrian terranes, such as North China Craton, southern Africa, and the North Atlantic Craton,and has been linked with thermomechanical erosion by mantle plumes. We performed numerical experiments with realistic viscosities to test this hypothesis and constrain the most important parameters that influence cratonic lithosphere erosion. Our models indicate that the thermomechanical erosion by a plume impact on typical Archean lithospheric mantle is unlikely to be more effective than long-term erosion from normal plate-mantle interaction. Therefore, unmodified cratonic roots that have been stable for billions of years will not be significantly disrupted by the erosion of a plume event. However, the buoyancy and strength of highly depleted continental roots can be modified by fluid-melt metasomatism, and our models show that this is essential for the thinning of originally stable continental roots. The long-term but punctuated history of metasomatic enrichment beneath ancient continents makes this mode of weakening very likely. The effect of the plume impact is to speed up the erosion significantly and help the removal of the lithospheric root to occur within tens of Myr if affected by metasomatic weakening

Imaging lithospheric discontinuities beneath the Northern East African Rift using S -to-P receiver functions

Imaging the lithosphere is key to understand mechanisms of extension as rifting progresses. Continental rifting results in a combination of mechanical stretching and thinning of the lithosphere, decompression upwelling, heating, sometimes partial melting of the asthenosphere, and potentially partial melting of the mantle lithosphere. The northern East African Rift system is an ideal locale to study these processes as it exposes the transition from tectonically active continental rifting to incipient seafloor spreading. Here we use S‐to‐P receiver functions to image the lithospheric structure beneath the northernmost East African Rift system where it forms a triple junction between the Main Ethiopian rift, the Red Sea rift, and the Gulf of Aden rift. We image the Moho at 31 ± 6 km beneath the Ethiopian plateau. The crust is 28 ± 3 km thick beneath the Main Ethiopian rift and thins to 23 ± 2 km in northern Afar. We identify a negative phase, a velocity decrease with depth, at 67 ± 3 km depth beneath the Ethiopian plateau, likely associated with the lithosphere‐asthenosphere boundary (LAB), and a lack of a LAB phase beneath the rift. Using observations and waveform modeling, we show that the LAB phase beneath the plateau is likely defined by a small amount of partial melt. The lack of a LAB phase beneath the rift suggests melt percolation through the base of the lithosphere beneath the northernmost East African Rift system

Magma plumbing systems: a geophysical perspective

Over the last few decades, significant advances in using geophysical techniques to image the structure of magma plumbing systems have enabled the identification of zones of melt accumulation, crystal mush development, and magma migration. Combining advanced geophysical observations with petrological and geochemical data has arguably revolutionised our understanding of, and afforded exciting new insights into, the development of entire magma plumbing systems. However, divisions between the scales and physical settings over which these geophysical, petrological, and geochemical methods are applied still remain. To characterise some of these differences and promote the benefits of further integration between these methodologies, we provide a review of geophysical techniques and discuss how they can be utilised to provide a structural context for and place physical limits on the chemical evolution of magma plumbing systems. For example, we examine how Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), coupled with Global Positioning System (GPS) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data, and seismicity may be used to track magma migration in near real-time. We also discuss how seismic imaging, gravimetry and electromagnetic data can identify contemporary melt zones, magma reservoirs and/or crystal mushes. These techniques complement seismic reflection data and rock magnetic analyses that delimit the structure and emplacement of ancient magma plumbing systems. For each of these techniques, with the addition of full-waveform inversion (FWI), the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and the integration of geophysics with numerical modelling, we discuss potential future directions. We show that approaching problems concerning magma plumbing systems from an integrated petrological, geochemical, and geophysical perspective will undoubtedly yield important scientific advances, providing exciting future opportunities for the volcanological community

A Chinese-American Treasure in the Delta: Locke, California (360 Guided Tour)

This virtual immersive guided tour of Locke, CA, was created to allow students at the University of the Pacific to visit this National Historic Landmark despite the SARS-COV-2 pandemic. The Locke Historic District is the largest, most complete example of a rural, agricultural Chinese-American community in the United States. Located in the San Joaquin Delta, this little town serves as a reminder of the resilience of Chinese immigrants and their often overlooked contributions in our history. 00:00 - Introduction & Welcome 09:23 - First Floor Boarding House 13:54 - Second Floor Boarding House 19:27 - Boarding House Room 1 23:06 - Boarding House Room 2 25:09 - Al\u27s Restaurant, Main Street 32:19 - The Dai Loy Gambling Museum 44:30 - Money Room, Dai Loy Gambling Museum 46:10 - Joe Shoong School House 49:00 - Key Street 56:04 - Photograph excerpts from Bitter Melon Special thanks to the Locke Historical Foundation for access to the buildings and permission to film; James D Motlow for giving the tour and providing photographs from his book, Bitter Melon . Professor Elke Schmeling DP: Kadri Nizam Music ******************************* Village Fate, Fragments of Guthix https://archive.org/details/runescape... https://runescape.com Other Links ******************************* http://www.locke-foundation.org/ https://www.nps.gov/places/locke-hist... http://www.locke-foundation.org/locke... Check us out! ******************************* University of the Pacific - http://www.pacific.edu William-Knox Holt Memorial Library - http://www.library.pacific.edu/ The Cube - http://go.pacific.edu/cub

A Chinese-American Treasure in the Delta: Locke, California (360 Guided Tour)

This virtual immersive guided tour of Locke, CA, was created to allow students at the University of the Pacific to visit this National Historic Landmark despite the SARS-COV-2 pandemic. The Locke Historic District is the largest, most complete example of a rural, agricultural Chinese-American community in the United States. Located in the San Joaquin Delta, this little town serves as a reminder of the resilience of Chinese immigrants and their often overlooked contributions in our history. 00:00 - Introduction & Welcome 09:23 - First Floor Boarding House 13:54 - Second Floor Boarding House 19:27 - Boarding House Room 1 23:06 - Boarding House Room 2 25:09 - Al\u27s Restaurant, Main Street 32:19 - The Dai Loy Gambling Museum 44:30 - Money Room, Dai Loy Gambling Museum 46:10 - Joe Shoong School House 49:00 - Key Street 56:04 - Photograph excerpts from Bitter Melon Special thanks to the Locke Historical Foundation for access to the buildings and permission to film; James D Motlow for giving the tour and providing photographs from his book, Bitter Melon . Professor Elke Schmeling DP: Kadri Nizam Music ******************************* Village Fate, Fragments of Guthix https://archive.org/details/runescape... https://runescape.com Other Links ******************************* http://www.locke-foundation.org/ https://www.nps.gov/places/locke-hist... http://www.locke-foundation.org/locke... Check us out! ******************************* University of the Pacific - http://www.pacific.edu William-Knox Holt Memorial Library - http://www.library.pacific.edu/ The Cube - http://go.pacific.edu/cub

Tax Credits and Asset Accumulation: Findings from the 2004 N.O.D./Harris Survey of Americans with Disabilities

This article describes findings pertaining to the economic independence of people with disabilities from the 2004 National Organization on Disability (N.O.D.)/Harris Survey of Americans with Disabilities. The 2004 N.O.D./Harris Survey is based on information from a random sampling of 1038 adults with disabilities and 988 adults without disabilities. Economic independence is central to improving the quality of life for persons living with disabilities. It involves being employed, leveraging tax incentives, the ability to accumulate assets, including through use of financial institutions, and opportunities for home ownership. Major findings include that sampled people with and without disabilities own homes at similar rates overall, that people with disabilities are more likely to be asset poor, have fewer relationships with financial institutions, have lower rates of usage of savings accounts, have lower rates of ownership of stocks and bonds, have lower rates of holding IDAs, and make less use of the home mortgage tax deduction. The importance of asset accumulation and home ownership strategies are discussed as a means to improve economic independence, self-determination, and inclusion into society of persons with disabilities